


Learning To Love

by Kaladin_x_happiness



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: F/M, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-17
Updated: 2020-02-17
Packaged: 2021-02-28 03:21:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22766929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaladin_x_happiness/pseuds/Kaladin_x_happiness
Summary: Everybody has to learn about love somewhere.
Relationships: Katelyn/Aaron Minyard, Matt Boyd/Danielle "Dan" Wilds, Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard, Nicky Hemmick/Erik Klose, Seth Gordon/Allison Reynolds
Comments: 5
Kudos: 51





	Learning To Love

**Author's Note:**

> I've seen various comments about how "Andreil invented love" and I couldn't get it out of my head. So here we are.

Most of us learn how to love early in our lives. We learn from those around us, family and friends. We learn through kind words, gentle hands, thoughtful actions.

01

Dan learned love from her stage sisters. They faced the world and all the shit it threw at them, and they stood together. They leaned on each other, laughed at each other, comforted each other when it was all too much. They didn’t have much, and life was often difficult, but their friendship was enough for them. They stood together against the world. This was love.

02

Kevin learned love from Kayleigh. She gave him laughter and smiles and safety in her arms. She sang him Irish lullabies and danced with him in the living room. She cheered him on in little league and told him to always follow his heart. She was his rock and his sunshine and a warm fire on a cold night. This was love.

03

Andrew did not learn love.

04

Matt learned love from Randy. He learned from her fierce protectiveness. He learned through the way that she stood strong by him, no matter what he did. He watched her fight for him, for his health, for his safety, for his happiness. He felt her strong arms around him, holding him together. This was love.

05

Aaron learned love from Tilda. She took him to the beach when he was very small. They played in the waves and built sand castles together. They went to baseball games and ate cheesy nachos. She taught him to ride a bike and kissed his knees when he fell and scraped them. She was his protector in those early days. This was love.

06

Seth learned love from his mother. She baked cookies after school and hugged him when he cried. When he felt ignored as the middle child of seven, she let him stay up a little past bedtime and watch movies with her. She gave him devotion and gentle words. This was love.

07

Allison learned love from her nanny. It was a gentle hand when roughness would have sufficed. It was going above and beyond the call of duty. It was secret adventures and special treats and a warm hug. It was doing what was right for the one you loved, and damn the consequences. Looking back, Allison knew that a caretaker was paid for, but this could not have been bought. This was love.

08

Nicky learned love at home. It was in Maria's pies and soft Spanish. It was in Luther's silent strength and devotion to his family. It was singing on Sunday and quiet evenings reading together. It was soft and enveloping. This was love.

09 

Renee learned love from Stephanie. It was an alien thing to her, this acceptance and gentleness. She tested its boundaries. She attacked it. She tried to destroy it. Every time, she failed. And when she realized that, she put down her knives and picked up kindness instead. It was strong. It was unshakeable. This was love.

10

Neil did not learn love.

The love that they learned made its way back into their lives. For Matt and Dan, it was in the way they stood together. It was their determination to be strong, to let each other fight their own battles while standing at the ready to help if needed. For Allison and Seth, it was in their passion and devotion. Seth's fear made it hard to hold onto, but they had each other because it was right for them and fuck what the world said it should be. For Nicky and Erik, it was in the way that they could drop their masks. It was in the happy silences and enveloping hugs. For Aaron and Katelyn, it was in the way they fought to have each other. It was in the way he protected her as best as he could, and how she tended his healing heart. For Renee, it was in the way she gave herself to her friends. It was in her thoughtfulness and quiet words and in her determination to save the world.

Andrew and Neil did not have that. They had been raised in the harshest of worlds, and the softness of their friends' love was not something that could fit them. But they had each other. They had a quiet respect, a determination to keep each other safe, and an absolute dedication to what they wanted. They exchanged truths. They built trust. They were each filled with a fire and a darkness that were sometimes the same thing. They never learned conventional love, but they learned this. Perhaps it was nothing. Perhaps it was something. It was theirs, and they invented it together.

Perhaps it was love.


End file.
